The Nine Sins Of The Soul - The Lie by Daniel Arrhakis (2021)
The Nine Sins Of The Soul - The Lie
The Original Sin of our first ancestors Adam and Eve according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions - based on a terrible lie told to them by Satan.
So we understand that lying has been part of the human condition or nature since time immemorial. If we to begin by asking who among us has never told a lie, they will be no hands raised for sure. Those who refused to raise their hands would reveal what a lie is by their refusal to be honest. Various passages of the Bible feature excerpts that assert lying is immoral and wrong, most famously, in the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not bear false witness".
But let's be honest, speaking the truth at all times is practically (if not totally) impossible.
But if we lie a few times because we don't want to reveal details of our life or what we did, we can also lie for reasons of sociability, so as not to hurt the other. There was always a biunivocal reciprocal of "pious lies" between us and our interlocutors, which in a way also allows us to live in society without major conflicts. Thus, lies may serves a variety of instrumental, interpersonal, or psychological functions for the individuals who use them.
But unfortunately in many cases the lie has a more obscure and selfish objective, and it can be used as an instrument to subvert or attain power, to provoke divisions, separations and conflicts, to instigate revolutions or the fall of regimes; our history is full of conspiracies of power that cost many lives.
Lying means that a person is willfully making statements that are untrue, or half-truths, or falsehoods. The intention is clearly to deceive the other party. It implies that a person saying that lie is deceitful, or sneaky, being two-faced, or untrustworthy. He intends to mislead the other person, pull a fast one, entrap, dupe, betray, or delude the other person. Untruths or lies need not necessarily be in the oral form, they could also be in the written medium such as documents or letters, forgeries etc.
In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the Devil as the father of lies (John 8:44) and Paul commands Christians "Do not lie to one another". In the Day of Judgment, unrepentant liars will be punished in the lake of fire.
Other passages feature descriptive exchanges where lying was committed in extreme circumstances involving life and death, however, most Christian philosophers would argue that lying is never acceptable, but that even those who are righteous in God's eyes sin sometimes.
St. Augustine about AD 395, divided lies into eight categories, listed in order of descending severity where the most serious are: Lies in religious teaching and Lies that harm others and help no one. And the less serious ones: Lies that harm no one and that help someone spiritually, lies that harm no one and that protect someone from "bodily defilement".
In Buddhism lying is not only to be avoided because it harms others, but also because it goes against the ideal Buddhist of finding the truth. They are four precepts that includes or involves falsehood spoken or committed to by action, avoidance of lying and harmful speech, insinuate, exaggerate, or speak abusively or deceitfully, malicious speech, harsh speech, and gossip.
In Zoroastrianism there are two powers in the universe; Asha, which is truth, order, and that which is real, and Druj, which is "the Lie". Later on, the Lie became personified as Angra Mainyu, a figure similar to the Christian Devil, who was portrayed as the eternal opponent of Ahura Mazda (God).
In the case of the Mystical World of Ion, lying is one of the sins of the soul, subverting the truth as well as our human values.
Lying is a source of uncertainty, delusion but also a promoter of deception and discord. But even more serious is that it can be a source of alienation and personal suffering because the person who lies often can not be able to distinguish reality from fiction and live in a virtual world that he has built with repercussions in the life of the person itself and of others who socializes.
Lying promotes doubt, deception and uncertainty in the hearts of men, which can lead to conflicts and to personal discredit of human values and institutions. Thus, in the mystical world of Ion, lying is the greatest obstacle in the discovery of truth and knowledge, but also a form of imprisonment of the soul or spirit, not allowing it to evolve to higher stages.
The lie is rarely able to hide because it tends to grow like a snowball that goes down the mountain; sometimes what started with a little lie can have dramatic consequences, so it should always be avoided.
Like the snake, insidious but without we realizing, it crush us, suffocates us slowly like the lianas or the branches of certain types of trees like the Banyan Tree.
The only way to not be surprised is to seek permanent knowledge, to seek the truth and to refrain from making false judgments until we are sure. Often we will have to use our deepest moral and spiritual values in the stillness and peace of moments of prayer, contemplation or introspection.
A pious lie will never be true, but a raw truth with no repair aim can do more harm than good. At every moment, we must consider our sense of justice.
In recent times the trivialization of lies has become one of the perversions of our contemporary society.
Social networks and false news have taken root in the daily life of humanity, weaving webs of conspiracies extolling fears and hatreds, dividing society and peoples.
But more serious is that the "Permanent Doubt" was installed, which makes us question everything and put everything in doubt, which has increased our state of anxiety and discouragement in our own future.
This "Permanent Doubt" is maintained by a network of dark thoughts that seek the division of peoples and permanent conflict in order to reign and enslave the World by fear. And a society that permanently doubts everything, it is a society without direction and without a future !
We are now facing a battle for our consciences, for our souls ... for the Truth!
